How to Define Writing Success

 Back in the day I remember being gobsmacked and inspired by Barbara O'Connor's annual roundup posts which included books she'd released and numbers of school visits, etc. (Barb is still out there being successful, but she no longer blogs about it.) I thought: wow! what a life! This is what success looks like! 

Well, yes. To actively produce work and also impact many children is definitely a measure of success. But there are MANY ways to define success.

If you're reading this blog post: success.

If you wrote something today: success.

If you finished a chapter or a draft: success.

If you got a book deal: success.

If your work earned favorable reviews: success.

If your book found readers, no matter how small or large the number: success.

If you grew as a person due to writing or writing-related activities: success.

You get the idea!

My relationship with and my definition of success has changed over time. These days I wholeheartedly subscribe to this bit of wisdom from David McCullough:

"Real success is finding your lifework in the work that you love."

AND for me, success is no longer about pleasing others; success is about being myself. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says it better:

“It is not your job to be likable. It’s your job to be yourself. Someone will like you anyway.”

Yes, I know this can be a hard thing to arrive at in a business that requires other people like and believe in your words for them to ever see publication! But. The more we are ourselves in our writing, the more likely we'll write something that resonates with others.

How to get there? Not by chasing trends or obsessing over agent and editor manuscript wishlists. Here's some truer-than-true words from Ralph Waldo Emerson:

"Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."

I've found that success requires both enthusiasm and letting go. There's a movie I love called LEAVE NO TRACE. It's based on a book titled My Abandonment by Peter Rock. Here's a passage that inspires me to let go let go let go:

"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours. He will pass an invisible boundary. Don't forget this. Don't forget that thinking can get in the way. Forget the forgetting. We seek to forget ourselves, to be surprised and to do something without knowing how or why. The way of life is wonderful. It is by abandonment." 

I am a success because writing brings fullness and meaning to my life. What more can one writer ask?

Wishing you success, in whatever way you choose to define it!